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STATEMENTS
OF i ; j ,' ,./f:t-
FACTS
IN
RELATION TO THE EXPULSION
OF
JAMES C. GROSS,
F K O M
TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY
LEXIXGTO.X, KY.
Scrugham & Dunlop, Printers,
>
mi?
PREFACE
It is proper to apprise the reader, that the following Statements or Facts
were severally read in the hearing of the persons whose signatures they bear,
and approved by all, as setting forth the true state of the case. The Medical
profession may rest satisfied, that the exhibition herein made, is based on irre-
futable testimony. It is to be regretted that the whole was not made public
two years ago. The only reason why the other members of our Faculty could
not join in these statements, is, that they were appointed subsequently to the
periods referred to.
/r;/U. A/c?,//^r
STATEMENTS OF FACTS.
FROM PROFESSOR DUDLEY.
Iu 1837. the Trustees of Transylvania University were called
upon to fill certain vacant chairs in the Medical Department of
the Institution. A short time previous to that period, Dr. Cross
began to practice upon the religious credulity of our society, in
order to wipe away the odious stains upon a character he had
formed for himself, and to open thereby a new career to foul am-
bition. In the exercise of this piece of stratagem, he succeeded
so far as to secure the confidence of the Rev. N. H. Hall, one of
the clergymen of our city, and a Trustee of Transylvania Uni-
versity.
Actuated by none other than honorable motives, Parson Hall
presented the name of Dr. Cross to fill one of the ^acant Profes-
sorships in the Medical School, and urged his appointment. With
those of the individual members of the Medical Faculty who were
opposed to his introduction into the school; also with Mr. Gratz
and other members of the Board of Trustees, the Rev. Mr. Hall
made every effort with a view to conciliation and union upon Dr.
Cross; pledging himself at the time to Mr. Gratz and other mem-
bers of the Board of Trustees, that he (Parson Hall) would be a-
mong the first in moving for the expulsion of Dr. Cross when-
ever he should prove himself unworthy of his place. Upon the
strength of Parson Hall's influence, and his pledge given, the then
existing Faculty nominated the saidCross to the Board of Trustees.
and he wa^ elected. Within a few days past, the Rev. gentleman.
at my door, recalled to my mind the above particulars regarding
the introduction of Dr. Cross into the school; nor is it without
authority, that this allusion is made to the facts in the case.
The ceremony of installation was scarcely concluded before
reasons for regret at his admission into the school began to ac-
cumulate: and when the odiousness of his conduct admitted no
longer of toleration, and his removal became an imperative duty,
the action of the Board of Trustees was unanimous in dissolving
the connexion,—a unanimity well calculated to check the career
of vice, and also to protect society against the arts and devices ot
the Pretender,
[ 4 ]
1 have always turned with sentiments of disgust and abhor-
rence from the conduct and character of this individual: and nei-
ther before, nor during his connexion with the school, have my
feelings of self-respect allowed'*H)e', on any occasion, to enter his
dwelling as an associate.
In the last act of the MedicalTaculty, preparatory to his re-
moval from the school, I can cljiim neither honor nor participa-
lion. Without my knowledge, piy colleagues consulted together,
and united in sentiment on the necessity of the measure. When
the result of their consultation was communicated to me, I need
scarcely add, that the measure not only had my approbation, but
received my humble, yet firm support.
September 1st. 1846. B. W. DUDLEY.
FROM PROFESSOR MITCHELL.
On my return from the East, after an absence of several
months. I found a pamphlet in circulation, the production of an
expelled Professor and his satellites, which, for wilful falsehood
and misrepresentation, has never been equalled. It is not my
purpose to make a formal reply to that mass of moral turpitude,
so characteristic of its source; but simply to notice a few points
for the information of those who may be inclined to give some
sort of credit to the infamous pamphlet.
The allegation that Dr. Dudley originated the requisition to re-
sign, in consequence of which the Ex-Professor ceased to be con-
nected with the school, is false. The proposition came from the
late Dr. Richardson, as a means of averting an act of expulsion
on the part of the Trustees, which Dr. R. declared to be in con-
templation. He urged the plan which was actually adopted, as
the least offensive, and at his instance, it was carried out. And
in regard to any letter imputed to me touching the expulsion of
the Professor, (for so his friends called it here), I have only to
say, that my written statement of the interviews with Judge
Woolley, made at the time, and a note, having the signature of a
more distinguished gentleman, fully justify every iota contained
in that letter. And lest there should be any misconception on this
point. I now aver distinctly, that the Ex-Professor was required
to quit the Faculty, and that he substantially and virtually did
employ the instruments referred to, in order to have the Faculty
act revoked. As to how the agencies were employed, I have
nothing to say; it is beyond question, that they were somehow
made use of, and as notorious that they failed.
We had proofs in abundance, that after his expulsion, he was
actively engaged,:—while on his political expeditions,—in talking
4
t 5 ]
of his discontinuance with the school as a voluntary act, to avoid
the disgrace of sinking with it. In this way. he aimed a blow at
its success/ and no doubt did it harm. We felt it our duty to
correct this impression, by publishing the truth. He was com-
pelled to leave; he imploringly begged to be retamed : and he
knows all this well.
The Ex-Professor was a blot and a ?tain on the school, from
the hour of his entrance into it. He had labored to destroy it
long before, and hence the efforts made by Professor Short and
others, to keep him out. They predicted the results of his iden-
tification with it, and they have proved to be wise prophets. Ail
they anticipated, and more, has been realized. On my first in-
terview with him in this city, after my appointment, (in July,
1837), he began to denounce Dr. Dudley, alledging that he pos-
sessed an influence to which he was not entitled; that we couid
bring about a change in this matter, and the first thing to be done,
was to divide his double chair. This kind of talk was repeated
very frequently before the session commenced, and as it pro-
gressed, down to the period of the expected death of Professor
Eberle.
When it was announced that Dr. Eberle was no more, the Ex-
Professor commenced his secret efforts to procure the vacant
chair. And hearing that Dr. Short and myself were named as
candidates, he publicly denounced us to the class, as unfit for the
place : called on the pupils 1o discountenance every thing of the
sort, alledging that our appointment would disgrace the school,
and consequently disgrace its pupils. This, and more, I heard
with my own ears, in the Chemical Hall, immediately below the
place where this most brotherly harangue was made. The in-
trigues of this man were carried through the course, and whole
weeks passed without any intercourse between him and his col-
leagues. Often and again, did we wish him out of the school.
and I know that Dr. Short will bear me out in the declaration 1
now make, that he left our school chiefly because of the base
conduct of the expelled Professor, during the session of 18.37-8.
There are facts in abundance to prove, that during the session
named, he was perpetually endeavoring to depreciate the labors
of his colleagues, and to elevate himself. And as he.has seen
fit to eulogise his friend Dr. Caldwell, let me now say, that Dr. C.
visited my house the day after the delivery of the eulogium on
Professor Eberle, (the Ex-Professor was the Orator,).and cm;
phatically said, "Sir. if you don't get rid of that fellow, he will
blow your school to hell."
The parade of letters to show an intention to resign, should
have gone back to 1837-8, for this notorious resigner was ever
and anon talking about resignation. It is well known that he
threatened to resign, if he was not appointed the successor of
Professor Eberle. What said his friend of the Louisville Jouru^
1*
k
[ 6 ]
ai, July 26, 1838, as the stereotyped declaration of the Ex-Pro-
fessor ? " if Mitchell were transferred from Chemistry to Theory
and Practice, Peter (against whom Cross cherished a most deadly
hate,) would be appointed Professor of Chemistry, and then him-
solf and Richardson would resign, and the school would at once
be brought to an end?" It was about the same time, that the
Louisville Journal declared that the fame of Transylvania did
not rest on the high moral chastity of Professor Cross.
It is notorious, here, that in every session from 37-8, this man
made a business of threatening to resign, in order to accomplish his
purposes. Perpetually he was getting up broils in the class, and
thereby continuing a desire on the part of the Faculty, to get rid
of him. They had abundant evidence, that whatever his influ-
ence might have been to draw pupils, his moral turpitude con-
stantly deterred virtuous men from sending their sons to Lexing-
ton. In this way, more was lost than gained.
During the session of 37-8, he made it his business to oppose
and denounce the teachings of some of his colleagues, before the
class, in such manner that all comprehended his design. His real
aim was 1o rob some of their reputation, that he might wear the
honors himself. In this way he kept up a constant war against
his fellow teachers, and this never ceased while he remained in
the school; and as an aid to his plans, he was specially careful,
annually, and often in each course, to hold out the threat of re-
signation. I will add, that but for the necessity of a public expo-
sure, and the dislike of troubling the community with our difficul-
ties with this man, he would have been required to leave long
ago. Wre regarded him as a serious hindrance to the success of
the school. His drunkenness, asdisplayed on the rostrum, and in
tiij examinations of candidates, was so ordinary an affair, lhat
many were deeply disgusted with the exhibition. Of his outdoor
scandalous course, I need say not a word, for that is history.
There are many facts relating to the session of 1837-8, which
might be adduced, to show, the total disqualification of this man,
to hold a place in a medical school. He well knew, that his true
position was understood from the first month of that session. He
feared, as a consequence of his misconduct, that the chair of the
Institutes would be vacated, and intimated as much to the late Dr.
Richardson, as a reason why he desired the chair of Theory and
Practice. It is quite probable, he will deny this, for he is capable
of any thing, to gain an end. He will say, I falsify, although he
was th2 author of a mo3t fulsome eulogy on my moral character
which appeared in a Lexington paper, in 1838.
Professor Smith, who succeeded Dr. Eberle, was not in the
school six weeks, when he complained to more than one of the
Faculty, that if Cross were not quieted in his denunciations of
him and his teachings, he would not continue in the school. The
samo thing occurred in respect of Dr. Bartlett, who was denoun-
[ 7 ]
ced by this man before the audience had left the hall, in which
he gave his Inaugural lecture. The denunciations continued for
several weeks, when Dr. B. averred, that this conduct must cease,
that he was not compelled by his circumstances to remain, and
could not, if the Ex-Professor were permitted to act as he had
done.
How was it in respect of Dr. Peter? Was not that gentleman
on the eve of bringing this man before the Trustees for his scan-
dalous interference with, and depreciation of the Chemical chair ?
Let him deny this, if he dare.
And as he and his tools have made much ado about Dr. Bush, 1
may say here, that all the difficulty and objection to Dr. B., that
I ever heard of, originated with him, and those under his influ-
ence. He has put expressions and sentences in my mouth touch-
ing Drs. Dudley and Bush, which were his stereotyped modes of
speech, concerning them. They never ceased to be subjects of
abuse and detraction by him, while he was a colleague. There
never was a movement against Dr. Bush, in the class, as I believe,
of which this Faculty troubler was not the author, directly or in-
directly. He labored to make Drs. Richardson and myself iden-
tical with him, in all he did and said, denunciatory of Drs. Dud-
ley and Bush, for years ; and whatever effect his misrepresenta-
tions may have made, like the perpetual dropping of water on the
rock, I am satisfied, that his aim was to dupe us into his schemes,
and to make us responsible for his baseness. He had a deep
abiding hatred of those men; and their injury, not the good of
the school, was the motive that governed him, and his allies.
There is a small matter which I feel bound to notice. I am
charged with correcting proofs of the papers of one of the illus-
trious compeers of this noted Ex-Professor, and the statement has
been doubtless furnished by one who expects his reward. The
facts are these :—Before I had entirely ceased to soil my feet by
contact with a certain medical office in Lexington, I stopped in
now and then, to await the opening of the mail. On one of these
occasions, two of ihefrm were perusing a paper, which was blank
on the side next to me. One of them observed, it was no secret,
and that Dr. M., might as well see it. The paper was handed,
its caption noticed, and a gross misprint of a very common
word, concerning which I remarked, "that must be an error of
the press," and handed it back, without reading the quarter of
the essay. This is what these persons call "correcting the
proofs."
A word or two, as to the importance of the Ex-Professor to the
school. A stranger might suppose that he was the very soul of
the Institution, that it had its being in him ; when in truth, his
teaching as well as his example was all the while exerting a per-
nicious influence on the profession. As an evidence, that "our
views and discoveries in medicine," as the modest Ex-Professor
[ 8 ]
was wont to say of his rantinga, were of little or no ralue, and so
regarded, there is not an author of any note, who has conde-
scended even to notice them, in this or any other country. His
vanity and self-esteem, always in the ascendant, led him to put a
value on his teaching which solid and judicious men never rea-
lised. Laboring constantly under the monomania of personal su-
periority, his efforts were incessantly directed to cast every col-
league into the shade ; and by all sorts of intrigue, to rob his as-
sociates of their well-earned' reputation. Instead of approving
and sustaining his brother professors, it was his glory to detract
from their merits, if by so doing he could add to the bulk or
splendor of his own imaginary laurels. Were it important to the
issue, we might say a little in point, touching the vaunted litera-
ry character of the expelled Professor. His Appeal, regarded
as a literary effort, like most of his essays, would disgrace the
simplest sophomore in America.
These statements I make, not as a condescension to notice the
'•Appeal," as it is called, nor to satisfy those who know all the
parties in this controversy. There are some, far away, who are
not aware of the true standing of this perpetual resigner; and
for those, mainly, have I taken the trouble to record facts in
this way. The unscrupulous and malignant indecency with
which he has assailed me and my colleagues, and the foul gan-
grenous mass of falsehood called to his aid, in the desperate
effort, might justify something more severe on this occasion.
But I forbear; and knowing, as well I do, that the last lingering
resources of deception are relied on by the junto, I now distinctly
advise the friends of the School, that their future efforts will
pass unheeded as the less idle wind.
Finally, I beg my friends, here and elsewhere, to bear in mind.
the ceaseless turbulence evinced by this man, from the day he
entered the School, his perpetual denunciations of Drs. Dudley
and Bush, as well as every other colleague that stood in the way
of his transcendent greatness; the perpetual moral delinquencies
that we were compelled to conceal, as far as possible, and the
frequent broils of which he was the author, in and out of the
class; and then to decide how far his vituperative abuse of me,
because I would not be his tool, is entitled to notice. It is of the
essence of his nature, to villify and slander. Not an hour can
he pass in tolerable quiet, if some work of detraction and false-
hood be not accomplished. To follow him through all his la-
byrinths of iniquity and defamation, would only be to feed his
vanity and strengthen his monomania. I have given myself more
trouble concerning his hallucinations than they merited, and now
leave him to his fate, with this additional remark, that his "Ap-
peal" was really gotten up, not merely as an attack on Transyl-
vania, but as an electioneering document to help the fortunes of a
pew medical school, of which he is, unhappily, a member. His
[ 9 ■]
•
collegiate relations have ever been prejudicial to the real welfare
of the profession, and they will not cease to be so, until his nature
is wholly changed. Far better have we been without him, for the
last two years; and our entire course of lectures has been vastly
more profitable to the class, than it ever was in the days of his
association. And as Professor Bush has been specially an object
of denunciation, it is but just to say, that since he has had exclu-
sive charge of the Anatomical Chair, he has given as general
satisfaction as any teacher in the same department in the United
States.
In order to the removal of false impressions touching Professor
Bartlett, it is proper to add, that, through a friend, he has actu-
ally made the needful arrangements for the residence of his
family in Lexington, and that he will be here in a few weeks.
THOS. D. MITCHELL.
Lexington, Sept. 1, 1846.
P. S.-—As a sample of the honesty and fair dealing of this
Cross, we refer to his denunciations of the Faculty, because they
did not select a Southern man to fill the late vacant chair; and
these too, made in the teeth of his own declaration, that in 1837,
he travelled 2000 miles East, to hunt Professors. We name,
also, the deliberate falsehood, that our class of last session was
swollen by pupils furnished from the offices of the numerous
applicants for the chair then vacant; when, in truth, but one of
the applicants favored us in this way, as the slanderer well knew,
FROM PROFESSOR PETER.
A pamphlet, entitled "An Appeal, to the Medical Profession of
the United States, by James Conquest Cross, M. D." having been
extensively circulated by its author; containing the most impu-
dent and atrocious falsehoods, and an ingenious misrepresentation
of the manner in which he left the Transylvania Medical School;
and being an effort to injure, to the extent of his abilities, his late
colleagues and the school; I have felt it to be my duty to make
a.brief statement of the facts in the case: that the alumni of the
school and those who love truth and abhor turpitude of all kinds,
may not be led astray, by the ingenious special pleading and the
bold mis-statements of the very unprincipled author. And this
task I perform with feelings "more in sorrow than in anger."
On the 25th of May, 1844, after having, for a number of years.
borne, with great patience and forbearance, with his numerous
obliquities, and having recently been credibly informed of acts of
turpitude on his part which outraged every feeling of a christian
[ io ]
community, the Medical Faculty of Transylvania came to the
unanimous conclusion, that not only the interests of the school
imperiously demanded the dismissal of Dr. Cross from its Facul-
ty, but that they could no longer consent to be associated with
him. They therefore addressed him the following note, vizc-
To Professor Cross:
Sir—Circumstances having occurred relating to your private character,
which will hereafter prevent us from co-operating with you as a member of the
Medical Faculty of Transylvania University, we feel called on by an imperious
sense of duty to the institution, to request you to send to the Board of Trus-
tees, your resignation of the chair you hold, as speedily as possible.
We invite you to this measure, hoping that it may appear a spontaneous act of
vour own. B. W. DUDLEY. " I THOS. D. MITCHELL.
W. H. RICHARDSON, | ROB'T. PETER.
This request, as respectful as it could be made under the cir-
cumstances, was prepared and sent to him in as secret a manner as
possible, in the hope that he would,—as we suggested to him in
the note, in a spirit of kindness,—immediately send in his resig-
nation to the Board of Trustees as a spontaneous act of his own.
In which event we mutually pledged ourselves to each other that
we would never divulge the fact that his resignation had been
compulsory, except in the case of some overt act of his against
the school.
To this note we received no immediate answer. But we were
visited individually by Judge Woolley, who came on the part of
Dr. Cross, and interceded for him in the strongest manner, prof-
fering concessions, and a pledge of reform from him, as a basis of
reconciliation with the Faculty. A letter was also received by Dr.
Dudley from the Hon. H. Clay, which is given below, in which
the same proposition is made, viz : that we should cease further
action against Cross on the receipt from him of a pledge of reform:*
My Dkar Sir : Ashland, 28th May, '44.
I have heard to day, for the first time, and with the deepest regret, of the
difficulties which have arisen between the Medical Faculty and Dr. Cross. I
cannot express to you how much I deplore them. Dr. Cross is a native of our
city, a man of decided abilities, and capable of becoming useful and eminent in
his profession, if he chooses. I fear he has acted indiscreetly; but if he can be
saved; if he can give sufficient guarantys of his firm resolution to reform his
conduct, and re-establish himself in the good opinion of his colleagues and the
community, should we not endeavor to preserve him? Does not humanity re-
quire this at our hands? Does not the fact of his nativity in Lexington, iwfr4*
the sympathies to which that fact should give rise enjoin it upon us?
Will yQu allow me to request that no further steps be taken in his affair until
I have an opportunity of aconference with you? I should like to see you here
to-morrow morning, where we could converse freely and without interruption;
but if that be not convenient, I can meet you at my office or at yours, about 12
o'clock, as may be most agreeable to you. Your friend,
Dr. Dudley. H. CLAY.
*Mr. Clay and Judge Woolley have both stated that their propositions were
made on their own responsibility; but they, as honorable men, knew, and
proposed, what would be necessary on the part of Cross, under the circum-
stances, to reinstate him with his outraged colleagues and the community.
[ 11 ]
Mr. Clay subsequently had an interview with Dr. Dudley, and
at his instance Dr. D. called on the other members of the Faculty.
I was in his company when he went to see Drs. Richardson and
Mitchell; but we were all so thoroughly convinced by long ex-
perience, of the utter baseness of the man, Cross, and of the
impossibility of sustaining the school with him as au associate,
that no one of the Faculty would entertain the idea of with-
drawing our request to him to resign.
The feelings of Dr. Richardson, his old preceptor and friend,
were, as he informed me, somewhat aroused for him; but having
subsequently ascertained that Cross had attempted to deceive him,
in his exculpation of himself from the odium of a crime, with
which the whole town was ringing, he indignantly repelled all
propositions to reinstate him in the Faculty.
The imposition which he attempted to pass upon Dr. Richard-
son, he has endeavored to foist upon the public, in his fraudulent
"confession,'''' on pages 60-62, of his "Appeal;" but Dr. Richard-
son informed me, that although Cross might have been drunk
enough on the night of Mr. Clay's arrival in Lexington, he had
learned, to his satisfaction, that the base action of which every
one accused him, and of the truth of which we had proof, took
place on a previous occasion.
With the ingenuity often displayed by a convicted culprit under
the gallows, with the hopes of a reprieve in prospect, he makes,
in his "Appeal," a confession, in which, by special pleading
and bold perversions, he labors to work up into a delusive state-
ment the damning facts which are too notorious to be contradicted,
and thus endeavors to "reconcile the circumstances'''' and disarm his
accusers of their plea. But the careful reader of his pamphlet.
who compares its different parts with each other, will learn enough
of the character of the man, even from his own production, to
consider all that he says and tries most strongly to prove, as at
least very doubtful.
The intercession in his behalf having failed, and no answer
having been received from Dr. Cross, the Faculty directed the
following note to be sent to him, viz:
Medical Hall, Lexington, May 28, 1844.
Professor Cross:
Sir—I am authorized and directed by the members of the Faculty who
signed the paper sent to you on Saturday last, to request that you will make
known your decision in the premises by Thursday at noon, of this week, in
default of which, it wilt be their duty to lay the matter before the Board of
Trustees. By order,
THOS. D. MITCHELL, Dean.
^ In this note the determination of the Faculty was evident:—
and Dr. Cross understood it:—they had determined, that, if he
did not resign before Thursday at noon, the ichole matter should be
fully investigated by the honorable Board of Trustees.
Had Dr. Cross been an injured man, and the victim of the
[ 12 ]
enmity of some of his colleagues, or of a conspiracy, this was the
time for him to vindicate his character, in a public trial, before a
body of as honorable men as are to be found in the country. But
he, better than any one else, kneio, that to have stood an investiga-
tion before the Board of Trustees, would have utterly destroyed
him; and have made matters of history and of record, those
numerous acts of baseness and turpitude which his colleagues, as
much as any other persons, had previously endeavored to hush
up : and, therefore, his resignation came on the 29th, dated on
the 28th.*
But when the resignation did come, it gave a new proof of his
utter depravity. Instead of sending in a simple resignation, with-
out an attempt to injure his late colleagues or the school,—which
would have held us pledged to confine to our own knowledge the
fact that he was disgracefully expelled from the Faculty,—he
commenced his system of mis-representation even in his letter of
resignation; by endeavoring to make it appear that he was the
victim of an attempt to effect a wholesome reform in the school.
and that we sent him our request after we knew he intended to
resign!!
These allegations I unhesitatingly pronounce to be false.
It is true that Dr. Cross had just been engaged in a crusade
against his colleague Dr. Bush, and had thought proper to be
very abusive in his language, on the streets, about Dr. Dudley and
others of the Faculty. But a compromise of these difficulties
had been already made in the Faculty,—much to his mortifica-
tion.
It is also true, that Dr. Cross had often talked of leaving the
school. He made such a declaration, I am told, at the time of the
death of Dr. Eberle; and when Dr. Smith resigned, before the ap-
pointment of Dr. Bartlett, he persecuted me with his pretensions
to the vacant chair of the Theory and Practice, and distinctly
threatened that, if he was not appointed to that chair, which, he
said, "he was better qualified to fill than any man in the West,"
he "would not any longer interest himself in the school, but
would look out for another situation."
He threatened to resign when he quarrelled with a medical
student, and was smarting under the corporeal castigation which
,had been administered to him.
But the tenor of his conversation, about the time of our re-
quest, was, not that he intended to resign, but that he would force
Dr. Dudley to resign and cause the expulsion of Dr. Bush. Had
we supposed that he intended to resign, we would have waited a
*His note to Mr. Clay, requesting him to discontinue his efforts in his behalf,
"written at a late hour on the 28th, and sent to him at a very early hour on the
morning of the 29th," was prepared after he had received our note, informing
him of our determination to lay the whole matter before the Trustees. Hi*
false plea had been already made up.
[ 13 ]
reasonable time for his action, and have received his spontaneous
resignation with the greatest pleasure, but we knew nothing of such
intentions on his part, and were imperatively forced to the perform-
ance of our disagreeable duty.
Had we been base enough to act as he would have the public be-
lieve, we could have done so only through motives of policy; and that
policy would have caused us immediately to lay before the public the
jacts inrelation to his expulsion. But this we did not do; for it
will be seen that we were the last to give publicity to the circumstan-
ces.
Dr. Cross first divulged the fact of our call to Judge Woolley
and others, he then exhibited it in his letter of resignation. By
that letter we knew that his false plea was made up, and by that
all pledges of secrecy on our part were removed. But we did not
yet publish him.
His agent scribbler who strangely styled himself "A Friend to
Lexington," published, tauntingly, the false statement in rela-
tion to his resignation ; but still we forbore.
Immediately after his expulsion, after having joined the total
abstinence society, whose pledge he had before broken once or
twice, he went on his electioneering campaign ; avowedly to pro-
mote the election of Mr. Clay, but really to endeavor to make for
himself some character which would enable him to set at defiance
the denunciatory voice of disapprobation raised by those who
knew him best at Lexington.
We were informed by several physicians and others, that he,
during that campaign, took occasion to injure the School, by stat-
ing that he had left it "as a rat leaves a sinking ship";—that
"there was no longer any talent in it," etc.; and from what /know
of the man,—from the number of persons who have given me
similar information of his conduct, I was convinced, that to injure
the School which had cast him off, and thus to endeavor to make
it appear that his resignation had caused a great diminution in ita
class, was one of the main labors of his campaign. Still, not*
withstanding all these aggressions on his part, we allowed him yet
to go unwhipped of justice.
I and some other members of the Faculty now, had no scruples
in orally relating all the facts, to students and others who enquir-
ed of them ; but no publication was yet made of them.
Notices, commendatory of Dr. Cross, in such a manner as to
reflect on the School, appeared in various papers and journals,.--
written, doubtless, by himself, as had been his custom, or by him
■gents. One gentleman, who had been particularly active in
thw respect, and had evidently been led astray by Cross, and
from whom we expected better things, was addressed by Dr.
Mitchell, in the letter which Cross says was the cause of hie re-
turn from Europe. The object of this letter, to which I wa*
privy, was to endeavor to remove from the mind of the former
[ 14 ]
pupil, by the plain statement of the facts in regard to Cross, the
false impressions, which had evidently been made upon htm,
about his alma mater. It was the only letter of the kind that, to ac-
knowledge, has been formally written; although I have, in letters
to my friends, written after the campaign, made no secret of the
matter.
No publication of the expulsion of Dr. Cross, has yet been made by
the. Faculty or any of its members,—nor would it ever have been
made had he possessed wisdom enough to avoid exposing himself
in his mad efforts to injure others. So that, it is evident, the plea
of Dr. Cross, that he was the victim of a conspiracy on the part
of the Faculty, the Board of Trustees and the citizens of Lexing-
ton, falls to the ground of its own weight.*
In his atrocious pamphlet he has thought proper to throw the
odium of his expulsion upon Dr. Dudley, against whom the vial
of his gall is more especially poured out: but he, better than
any one, knows that Dr. Dudley has never given him any par-
ticular cause of offence, and that he has no quarrel with him
more than with any of his late colleagues. In short, the only
probable motive of his selection of Dr. Dudley for his personal
attack, is the greater eclat an apparent contest with Dr. D., would
give him before the public.
It is not true that Dr. Dudley took the le^d in calling on Dr.
Cross to resign. The facts are, that Dr. Richardson, having un-
derstood that the Board of Trustees were about to take the case
of Dr. C. into consideration, called on Dr. Mitchell and proposed
to him, as the best mode of preventing the probable public expul-
sion of Dr. C, that the Faculty should request him to resign.
Dr. Mitchell came to me on the subject and requested me to
see Dr. Dudley, who, with us all, agreed at once to the proposi-
tion of Dr. Richardson. Dr. Dudley was, therefore, the last per-
son in the Faculty who was informed of the proposition. The
note requesting him to resign was written by myself and submit-
ted, and was amended by Dr. Richardson by the addition of the
words "touching your private character." It was signed first by
* Since the above was written, my attention was called to a remarkable pas-
sage in his letter to Mr. Clay, already referred to, as having been written "at a
late hour on the 28th of May," the passage is as follows, viz : "therefore I de-
cided after I left you to take the course which I had marked out immediately
after a conversation I had on last Saturday with Drs. Mitchell and Richardson,
but which I was prevented from pursuing by the reception of a letter from
fonr of the members of the Faculty ;" i. e. to resign. Truly it is very evident
that liars should have good memories. He has been laboring hard to prove
that the Faculty knew of his intention to resign, before they called on hira,
forgetting that he had informed Mr. Clay that this intention was "marked out"
on Saturday, immediately after the conversation he had with Drs. M. and E.
Now his conversation took place not more than fifteen minutes before the re-
quest to him was penned ; for he had come into the meeting which was called
for the purpose.
[ 15 ]
Dr. Dudley because he was the senior member of the Faculty,
and the other members signed, as is our custom, in the order of
their seniority in the school.
The reasons which urged me to join in the request were numer-
ous and powerful. It would be tedious and improper to detail
them all. My first acquaintance with the character of Dr. Cros9
was made by means of a pamphlet published by him in 1834; in
which he denounced in the strongest terms of invective, Drs.
Caldwell, Cooke, Yandell and Short, then Professors in Transyl-
vania, and lauded, to the highest, the character of Dr. Dudley ; of
whom he remarks, page 54, "Long may he live an ornament to
his profession, an honor to his species, and a blessing to man-
kind." Those whom he then denounced he now praises, and the
then subject of his fulsome adulation, is. now selected by him for
the object of his most offensive vituperations !
The publication of his pamphlet in 1834, caused great indigna-
tion in the Medical Class, and they passed unanimously, and pub-
lished, some strong resolutions in which he was exposed as a
slanderer and a falsifier. The Medical Society cited him to trial,
gave him due notice, and on his failing to appear, expelled
him, for cogent reasons entered on its records.
As a proof of the great popularity of Dr. Cross with the Medi-
cal Classes, of which he so much boasts, I will state, that after
his election to a chair in Transylvania, his friends made an annu-
al effort, in the Medical Society, to expunge this record, and with-
out success for several years : at last, by a small majority, it was
expunged; but a rally of members took place on the next meet-
ing, as 1 have been informed, and it was restored. How it termi-
nated I do not know, for from feelings of delicacy towards a col-
league, I carefully abstained from taking any part in the regular
business of the Society.
The election of Dr. Cross to a chair in Transylvania, took
place against the strong opposition of a number of the friends of
the school who knew him; among whom were some of the
Trustees. He has stated that he was importuned to come into
the school, but the general impression was, he made a spontane-
ous offer of himself.
The conduct of Dr. Cross, as a Professor, was to the utmost
degree, disagreeable and unbecoming. Afflicted with a morbid
vanity, which verges on monomania, and an ever-burning and
unscrupulous ambition of the most invidious kind, he was never
happy except when the subject of direct adulation. Nor did he
scruple to denounce his colleagues; all of whom have, in his so-
ber or his intemperate moments, been depreciated by him, either
on the streets or in the L3cture-room. This could have been
boms, had he honestly and truly labored in his chair to aid the
cause of Medical Science and sustain the School. But in this
he I"Wm*ntably failed : for not only was his eours \ on the "Insti-
I 16 ]
tutes," imperfect and unscientific,—consisting more of an attempt
to set up certain unsatisfactory speculative views, which he call-
ed "his own" ; but, in his eagerness to gain applause, and his desire
to amass money, he entirely forgot what was due to his colleagues
and to the Institution in which he was a teacher.
When he came into the Lecture-room, or into the "green*
room" during the examination of candidates, so intoxicated, that
he was barely able to sustain himself,—as he often did,—the dignity
and utility of the Professor, and the honor of the School, were
certainly sunk in the inebriate.
When he descended to the level of a maker and vender of a nos-
trum, known as Cross's Specif c for Gonorrhoea, etc., and when he
openly exhibited in the Faculty-room, to some of his mortified
colleagues, ten half eagles which he said he had received for a
quantity of it, which could not have cost him more than fifty
cents ! he forfeited all claims on them as an honorable man and
a scientific physician.
A physician may be excusable who keeps secret from the pro-
fession, for his own emolument, a new discovery in his art, to
which he has attained by much labor and expenditure of money ;
but even this would be sinning against the liberal canons of sci-
ence and of medicine. But the nostrum of Dr. Cross was no dis-
covery, no improvement; and was utterly inexcusable, being mere-
ly an imposition upon the credulity of the public which his ele-
vated station enabled him successfully to make.
Some of this preparation having been brought to me, for ana-
lysis, by Dr. Darby, I was enabled to ascertain, by a careful ex-
amination, that it consisted of nothing but pump-water, contain-
ing, in each ounce, a minute quantity of Corrosive Sublimate,
(about 1-4 or 1-8 grain), and 30 or 40 drops of Nitric Acid, fla-
vored with a little Benzoic Acid ;—a mixture, which his preceptor
Dr. Richardson informed us was one of his shop prescriptions,
which Cross must have got in his office during his pupilage !
The origin of the enmity which is expressed by Dr. Cross
against Drs. Dudley and Bush, is difficult to ascertain; hut it be-
came more particularly manifested during his hours of excite'
ment, after his rencontre with the medical student, and after the
presentation, by the members of the Medical Class, of a splendid
pieee of plate to Dr. Bush, as an evidence of their esteem for
him as a teacher of Anatomy and as a man.
On the occasion of his unfortunate quarrel with the student,
who happened to be an office-pupil of Drs. Dudley and Bush, he
openly accused those two gentlemen of having incited the attack;
but when he was required by the Faculty to bring his proofs be-
fore them, it is a matter of record, that after a fruitless effort, he
was obliged to acknowledge that he "had no evidence on which even
to base a suspicion" against them, and, as he expressed it, "he was
happy to withdraw the charge." Notwithstanding this, he reiter-
ates the charge in his "Appeal"!
[ u ]
For several winters, while Dr. Bush was very acceptably per-
forming the duties of Adjunct Professor of Anatomy and Surgery,*
the class had spontaneously passed resolutions highly commenda-
tory of his course and conduct; but when they thought proper
to manifest their approbation by the presentation of a costly piece
of plate, with an inscription, the spleen of Dr. Cross got the bet-
ter of his judgment, and he made remarks in relation to it which
gave at once an index to his thoughts, and to his invidious and
envious disposition.
Not very long after this, he commenced his crusade against
Dr. Bush, in his endeavor to expel him from the school, and his
open attempt to injure the character and standing of Dr. Dudley.
Whether he would, in his sober senses, have taken such a prepos-
terous course, which could only lead to injury to himself and to
all concerned, may be doubted; but blinded by his vanity, and
maddened by his habits of drinking, he threw himself into the
arena, determined to prove that Cross was the greatest niacin
the West,—greater than Dr. Dudley at least,—or die in the con-
test !
After having industriously spread misrepresentations in the
minds of all with whom he had to do, about the character of Dr.
Bush as a teacher of Anatomy, and dilated on the propriety of
forcing Dr. Dudley to resign one of his chairs, one of his agents
commenced a series of articles in the public prints, over the name
of "A Friend to Lexington," in which, with a thousand mis-state-
ments injurious to the school and its professors, those points were
openly and coarsely contended for. Cross, who had been a short
time absent in the East, speedily returned, and at once entered
with all his soul into the warfare. He ostensibly contended that
Dr. Dudley ought to resign one of his chairs, and that some dis-
tinguished professor from the East should be called to the chair
of anatomy; but we who understood him, knew that his real ob-
ject was the expulsion of Dr. Bush.
He succeeded finally in passing a resolution in the Faculty,
tha"t Dr. Dudley be requested to resign one of his chairs, or that
he be invited to give his views on the subject at the next meet-
ing. Before the time for the next meeting arrived, Dr. Richard-
son, having perhaps seen that he had been misled in relation to
Dr. Bush, made to me, as a basis of a compromise, the following
proposition, with the request that I should see Dr. Dudley and
get his views on the subject, viz:
That, in view of the fact, that Dr. Bush, as the adjunct of Dr.
Dudley, occupied a station in which it was difficult for him to
show the full extent of his abilities as a teacher, he proposed,
that on the ensuing winter Dr. Bush should lecture six times a-
vveek instead of three, and Dr. Dudley six times instead of nine;—
that the whole subject of anatomy should b& confided to Dr. Bush,
and that he should stand or fall, in the school, on his success as
a teacher that winter.
[ 18 ]
To this proposition Dr. Dudley agreed, and the compromise
was, as we supposed, made. The meeting was held according to
appointment, and the resolution of the last meeting was read. I
had taken pains to induce Dr. Dudley to attend the Faculty meet-
ing, in hopes that the compromise would be fully established,
and peace be restored in the Faculty. But what were my dis-
gust and mortification to find that the blustering Dr. Cross,—he
who "was a greater man than Dr. Dudley" on the streets, and
who threatened to make him resign one or both of his chairs in
the school, was, in the presence of Dr. Dudley as mute and appa-
rently as meek as a mouse!! Determined that the opportunity
for a thorough explanation between the parties should not be
lost, I was actually obliged, in consequence of the temporary
aphonia of the boasting Professor, to detail to Dr. Dudley and the
meeting the propositions and statements of Dr. Cross and his
partizans.
In answer to the resolution, and in view of the proposition for
a compromise which he had cordially accepted, Dr. Dudley, after
stating the fact that he had for several years divided equally
with Dr. Bush the proceeds of his chair, while he had labored,
as he thought, with his utmost ability for the good of the school,
concluded by the statement, that under the circumstances, he did
not feel himself authorized to resign one of his chairs at that
time.
What did the magniloquent Dr. Cross1? Meekly as a whipped
cur he handed in, without a word of explanation, a resolution,
which I believe was passed, "that things remainin statu quo"!
Every one supposed that the Professor was satisfied, but be-
hold!— the next issue of the "Inquirer" brought another of
the lugubrious articles of the "Friend to Lexington," in which
was a garbled and distorted account of this Faculty meeting. A
meeting at which none but the Faculty were present, and the
proceedings of which were known to none but them. This pub-
lication at once identified Dr. Cross with the nefarious and slan-
derous publications which had done so much injury to the insti-
tution; proved him a traitor to the school, and showed that, not-
withstanding the apparent compromise, and his subdued and hum-
ble manner at the Faculty meeting, he was still determined to
go on with his incendiary war.
These facts, with many others, when capped by a notorious
act, on his part, about this time, to which his own imperfect and
extorted "Confessions" give a slight clue, weighed down the scale
of justice against him. We could no longer be associated with
him. I came to the deliberate opinion that the amputation of the
diseased member was imperiously demanded to save the life of
the body corporate, and, with the rest of the Faculty, joined heart-
ily in the proposition of Dr. Richardson to call on him to resign.
Knowing these facts, the pamphlet of Dr. Cross will be under-
j. t 19 ]
8tQ0T;"iltS ProPer V]8ht' His dearest wish at present is to in-
jure Transylvania, as is evinced by his republication of the stale
and time-damned slanders against' her, which he well knows to U
such:—his wildest hope is to conceal his own nefarious conduct
in the glare of an apparent contest with Dr. Dudley and the
school. But we will not be drawn into a controversy.
The friends of the school are assured, that at no point in her
history has she offered such strong claims upon their patronage,
as she does at present. Dr. Bush, who has been so basely and
unfeelingly slandered, has the entire confidence of his colleagues,
and has fully sustained himself, during the two winters since his
appointment to the chair of Anatomy, as an able and useful Pro-
fessor; while that department has been still further strengthened
by the appointment of Dr. E. L. Dudley, as Demonstrator of
Anatomy, who, in addition to his attention to private dissections,
gives a regular course on Anatomy, to which he will next winter
add the subject of Minor Surgery.
The cordial acceptance, on the part of Dr. Bartlett, of his old
chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the school, and
the unanimous appointment of Professor Annan to that of Obstet-
rics, complete the organization of the Faculty.
The present healthy condition of the Transylvania Medical
School, and its known most, flattering prospects, have doubtless
aided in bringing the disgraced and disgraceful Ex-Professor to
that point of desperation, which made him blind enough, and mad
enough, to give to the world his inconsistent, false and slander-
ous "Appeal."
That he has denounced not only the Medical Faculty, but also
the Board of Trustees of Transylvania University, as well as the
citizens of Lexington in general, with a few choice exceptions,
is proof, that he, and this large and enlightened body of people,
have an irreconcilable difference of opinion in relation to his state-
ments:—if he is right, they are all either knaves or a set of base
subservient tools unworthy to exercise the rights of citizenship.
But if they are right, he is a being whose measure of baseness and
depravity has rarely been equalled in modern history.
ROBT. PETER,
/xufJ/M
/Al I V j? JL^